Identify and fight against fraud crimes in Nghe An

All kinds of scams

Taking advantage of the gullibility, trust, and even greed of a segment of the population, scammers have launched sophisticated tricks and schemes toappropriation of propertyMany people have fallen into the trap and lost large amounts of money.

Typically, on September 16, 2021, the Criminal Police Department, Nghe An Police received a criminal complaint from a citizen residing in Hung Binh Ward, Vinh City, accusing Nguyen Thi Van (born in 1988), residing in Nghia Hoi Commune, Nghia Dan District, of fraud and appropriation of 4.5 billion VND. Using professional measures, on November 1, 2021, the Criminal Police Department arrested Nguyen Thi Van for fraud and appropriation of property.

Fraudster Nguyen Thi Van and messages exchanged with the victim. Photo courtesy of Hong Ngoc

Van confessed: Because he borrowed money from many people to participate in some virtual currency exchanges on the internet and lost money, he created many bank accounts to trick victims into transferring money, then appropriated it. Knowing that Ms. L. received bank transfers for those in need to get service commissions, Van introduced himself as an acquaintance of many business people who needed to transfer money to banks continuously, agreed to pay a service fee of 3,000 VND/1 million VND of transferred money and Ms. L. agreed. After that, Van used 6 bank accounts of relatives to trick Ms. L., which were accounts of big business people who needed to transfer money continuously and asked Ms. L. to transfer money to these 6 accounts.

Police force consolidates case file of Nguyen Thi Van for fraud and property appropriation. Photo courtesy of Hong Ngoc

To gain Ms. L.'s trust, Van initially paid the principal and commission in full. By August 2021, the total amount of money Van asked Ms. L. to transfer and then appropriated was up to 4.5 billion VND. When she realized she could no longer pay the interest and principal, Van turned off her phone, blocked Ms. L.'s phone number, left her rented house in Vinh city, and returned to her hometown in Nghia Dan district to hide. In addition to the money she appropriated from Ms. L., Van also confessed that using similar tricks, she had defrauded and appropriated more than 8 billion VND from 8 other citizens.

According to the authorities, the Covid-19 pandemic is currently complicated, making online transactions, buying and selling goods, transferring and receiving money online a trend. This is also the time for bad guys to take advantage of victims' lack of vigilance, lack of knowledge about cryptocurrency transactions, and greed for profit... to commit fraud and appropriation of assets through cyberspace.

Police force took the statement of subject Tran Thi Phuong Thuy - The person who raided hundreds of wards to defraud and appropriate property. Photo: BN

Typically, in October 2021, Vinh City Police also prosecuted and temporarily detained Tran Thi Phuong Thuy (born in 1984), residing in Block 2, Truong Thi Ward (Vinh City) for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" under Clause 4, Article 174 of the Penal Code. The authorities determined that by illegally setting up hundreds of online gambling clubs, attracting acquaintances to participate, using virtual accounts to bid for opening gambling clubs, and after a while declaring the club to be closed... Thuy had appropriated billions of dong from the people.

Investigators of the Criminal Police Team - Vinh City Police said: Fraud in opening a lottery is not new, but because the tricks of the subjects are very sophisticated, many people still fall into the trap. Moreover, in the epidemic conditions, many people have to do business online or stay at home, with limited income, so they have the mentality of "earning more" from the lottery interest.

Many people who participated in the auction several times were suspicious, however, because they had already paid a lot of money to the auction, with the mentality of "once you start, you have to follow through", the losses kept multiplying with each auction. Only when Thuy declared "the auction broke" did they bitterly realize that they had been cheated.

Evidence of a fraud case involving the trick of selling lottery numbers online. Photo courtesy of Hong Ngoc

In addition, there are tricks to hack Zalo, Facebook to fake loans, money transfers; post fake information about difficult circumstances to mobilize charity donations and appropriate the raised money. Or take advantage of buying and selling goods on online shopping websites, on social networks, especially buying and selling items such as masks, medical equipment for Covid-19 epidemic prevention... to defraud and appropriate money from partners buying and selling goods or impersonating medical staff to invite people to buy medicine to prevent epidemics; provide testing services, vaccination, supply medical supplies, ask people to pay money and then appropriate.

Or impersonating Electricity employees to demand electricity bills, impersonating Traffic Police to notify of fines and requesting money transfers to accounts; impersonating bank employees or network operators to call victims to notify them of winning random number draws. Then, requesting victims to transfer money to bank accounts to receive prizes. In particular, some subjects also take advantage of people's greed and spirituality to "fraud and appropriate property".

Taking advantage of people's greed and superstition, Nguyen Thi Thuy defrauded and appropriated billions of dong in assets. Photo courtesy of Binh Minh.

A typical case is Nguyen Thi Thuy, born in 1971, residing in Hamlet 2, Tang Thanh Commune, Yen Thanh District. From mid-2019 until her arrest in June 2021, Thuy defrauded and appropriated the property of 04 people in Vinh City and Yen Thanh District for over 5 billion VND. Accordingly, the subject targeted people with good economic conditions and especially superstitious people to spread the news that they had an inheritance of hundreds of billions of VND from a deceased person. To use that money, they had to pay a ritual fee, and those who participated would receive a high percentage. Many people, because they were too trusting and greedy, raised money, mortgaged their houses and were scammed out of billions of VND.

There are also people who "fall into the trap" of subjects impersonating criminal police officers, court officials to trick people into running cases or claiming to know high-ranking officials to scam them into applying for jobs, running projects, applying to police schools, the military... to appropriate the victims' assets.

After more than 01 year of implementing Directive No. 21/CT-TTg, the authorities have discovered and arrested 92 cases, 122 subjects of the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property", recovered assets with a total value of more than 19.5 billion VND and returned them to the victims. Of which, 32 major cases were solved, which were recognized and highly appreciated by the Ministry of Public Security, Party committees, authorities and people, contributing to ensuring good security and order in the area.

Strengthen the fight and prevention

Although there has been strong action, there are still some shortcomings and limitations in the prevention and fight against fraudulent property appropriation activities, such as: Propaganda work is not regular, especially for high-risk groups becoming victims; people have not had timely, complete and accurate access to information on planning in various fields, regimes and policies on social security, investment, production and business. Management of some fields in finance, banking, telecommunications... still has loopholes and shortcomings for criminals to take advantage of.

Authorities inspect evidence seized from the residence of Ho The Anh (in black shirt) who swindled and appropriated property by selling lottery numbers online. Photo courtesy of Hong Ngoc

Coordination between some sectors, social organizations and localities is still lacking in synchronization and effectiveness; some localities are not resolute in directing prevention and handling. Fraudulent crimes of appropriating assets in cyberspace tend to increase, but the rate of investigation, discovery and tracing and recovery of misappropriated assets in some localities is still limited...

To continue to strengthen the prevention and handling of fraudulent property appropriation activities, recently, on November 10, 2021, the People's Committee of Nghe An province issued Document 8963-UBND-NC, requesting: Enhance the responsibility of leaders of Party committees, authorities, Fatherland Fronts, and organizations at all levels in the prevention, fight, and handling of fraudulent property appropriation activities; strengthen inspection and examination work to promptly detect, correct, and handle violations of the law related to fraudulent property appropriation.

Strengthen propaganda and prevention of property fraud crimes with appropriate, practical and effective content and forms, especially improving the effectiveness of propaganda, detection and reception of cases with signs of property fraud crimes on the Internet, social networks...

Police took a statement from Nguyen Thi Thuy, a resident of Yen Thanh district, about her fraud and property appropriation. Photo courtesy of Binh Minh

The Provincial People's Committee also requested the relevant agencies to continue reviewing legal regulations, assessing areas prone to fraudulent activities, detecting loopholes and shortcomings in State management work according to assigned sectors and fields to synthesize reports, recommend consideration, supplementation and appropriate adjustments. At the same time, improving the effectiveness and efficiency of State management in areas prone to or with loopholes for criminals to take advantage of to defraud and appropriate assets, especially finance, banking, real estate, investment projects, job brokerage, sending people to work or study abroad, multi-level marketing, e-commerce, etc.

Proactively detect cases with signs of fraud and property appropriation, promptly discuss and coordinate with the Provincial Police to handle them in accordance with the provisions of law. Implement measures to prevent the illegal collection, use, dissemination and trading of personal information; take advantage of security vulnerabilities of the management system to collect and exploit personal information to commit fraud and property appropriation.

Police force has repeatedly warned and advised against fraudulent phone calls. Illustrative photo

Improve the quality and effectiveness of receiving and handling denunciations and reports of crimes and recommending prosecution, focusing on investigating crimes of fraud and appropriation of property, ensuring timeliness, strictness and compliance with legal regulations.

However, it is important that each citizen must raise their vigilance, especially when using social networks, to avoid falling into the traps of scammers because of greed and gullibility, causing loss of money and injury.

"Article 174 (Penal Code 2015, amended and supplemented in 2017). Crime of fraud to appropriate property:

1. Anyone who, by fraudulent means, appropriates another person's property worth from VND 2,000,000 to under VND 50,000,000 or under VND 2,000,000 but falls into one of the following cases, shall be subject to non-custodial reform for up to 03 years or imprisonment from 06 months to 03 years:

a) Having been administratively sanctioned for property appropriation but still committing the violation;

b) Having been convicted of this crime or one of the crimes specified in Articles 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 175 and 290 of this Code, not having had the criminal record expunged, and still committing the violation;

c) Adversely affecting social security, order and safety;

d) The property is the main means of livelihood of the victim and their family; the property is a souvenir, relic, or worship item of special spiritual value to the victim.

2. Committing a crime in one of the following cases shall be punishable by imprisonment from 02 years to 07 years:

a) Organized;

b) Professional in nature;

c) Appropriating property worth from VND 50,000,000 to under VND 200,000,000;

d) Dangerous recidivism;

d) Taking advantage of position, power or taking advantage of the name of an agency or organization;

e) Using cunning tricks;

g) Appropriating property worth from VND 2,000,000 to under VND 50,000,000 but falling into one of the cases specified in points a, b, c and d, Clause 1 of this Article.

3. Committing a crime in one of the following cases shall be punishable by imprisonment from 07 to 15 years:

a) Appropriating property worth from VND 200,000,000 to under VND 500,000,000;

b) Appropriating property worth from VND 50,000,000 to under VND 200,000,000 but falling into one of the cases specified in points a, b, c and d, Clause 1 of this Article;

c) Taking advantage of natural disasters and epidemics.

4. Committing a crime in one of the following cases shall be punishable by imprisonment from 12 to 20 years or life imprisonment:

a) Appropriation of property worth VND 500,000,000 or more;

b) Appropriating property worth from VND 200,000,000 to under VND 500,000,000 but falling into one of the cases specified in points a, b, c and d, Clause 1 of this Article;

c) Taking advantage of war and emergency situations.

5. The offender may also be fined from VND 10,000,000 to VND 100,000,000, banned from holding positions, practicing a profession or doing certain jobs from 01 to 05 years, or have part or all of his/her property confiscated."